7 steps to reset
your mindset

Poppy Jamie’s moment of realisation happened while she was hosting the Snapchat TV show, Pillow Talk With Poppy.

Her job involved interviewing celebrities for a five minute programme on the then Snap Channel within the Snapchat app. As an upshot of this, viewers would contact her and ask her advice.

“Three out of four messages were about being stressed or worried,” says Jamie. “My mum is a psychotherapist and I found myself having to call her to ask, ‘What should I say to this person?’ I thought, ‘Where does any of us have to go when we experience stress?’”

The 27-year-old presenter-turned-app developer has recently launched Happy Not Perfect a mindfulness app aimed squarely at millennials.

In five minutes and seven steps, the app aims to give you a mental refresh and reset. It also offers meditation courses to tackle specific problems, such as heartbreak, sadness or stress with catchy titles such as “See ya later insecurities”, “7 Days of Chilling The **** Out” and “3 steps to removing exes… Good riddance!”

“I wanted to put someone like my mum, someone who can make you feel better, in an app,” says Jamie.

Here’s a taste of the app’s seven steps to a mental refresh.

First the app will ask how you’re feeling. Choose from “weird” or “meh” to “anxious” and your selection will alter subsequent steps. “I consulted life coaches and therapists on the language we use in the app,” says Jamie.

A visualisation tool (an inflating carton or lightbulb fading on and off) helps you follow a 30 second breathing exercise. Jamie trained with leading breathing expert and clinical psychologist Dr Belisa Vranich. “She was hugely inspirational in making breathing a core function of the app,” Jamie says.

Write down your thoughts and then virtually set fire to them by swiping your finger on the screen. Jamie explains, “You may need to process your thoughts and ask yourself, ‘Can I change my perspective? Is what I’m thinking actually real?’” Once your paper is burnt, it can’t be retrieved.

Remember things in your life that you are grateful for, and write them down. “Gratitude is like squats for the brain,” says Jamie. “It stimulates serotonin – happy hormones.” Grateful entries are saved in your profile.

Doodle something. The app may give you specific instructions, such as “Draw what you think paradise looks like.” In place of this step, you may get a mini game to complete. “Games can be incredible for your mental health, if you need a positive distraction,” explains Jamie.

Time for a challenge such as, “Play your favourite tune and hum along to it”. When you accept a challenge it is added to a checklist to tick off once completed. Alternatively you may receive a “Compassion” step, in which case you will write down a possible way to improve your situation, for example.

The last step is Jamie’s favourite. You send a positive message (anonymously, if you wish) to a contact. “When you feel sad, think about someone else,” says Jamie. “Regardless of how you’re feeling, you can make someone else’s day better.”

And that’s it. “This experience of helping yourself feel better had to be quick,” says Jamie. “If you do it time and time again, then when you are in a situation that is a trigger you’ll think, ‘Breathe, process and redirect.’ If you can’t change the situation you’re in then how can you change your response to it? That is hopefully the power that the refresh routine will give people.”